An influx of cash is helping a Victoria-based maritime robotics company expand its work across the Pacific.
On Wednesday, Oct. 23, Open Ocean Robotics announced it had wrapped up a $2.8 million investment round and said the funds will support product and technological advancements, geographic expansion into Southeast Asia, and scaling manufacturing of its uncrewed surface vehicles.
“This investment from leading global impact investors underscores their confidence in our company and our vision for sustainable, cost-effective, and scaleable ocean monitoring,” said Julie Angus, CEO of Open Ocean Robotics, in a news release. “With this funding, we will expand our ability to help maritime companies and agencies achieve safe and secure ocean monitoring through real-time data provided by our USVs and AI systems.”
The company aims to provide safe, affordable, sustainable, and scaleable ocean monitoring solutions that are solar-powered, allowing their uncrewed surface vehicles to operate at sea for months at a time, collecting data with a suite of sensors without producing GHG emissions, noise pollution, or risking oil spills, as opposed to using crewed ships, aircraft and satellites which can be expensive and labour-intensive.
The company's drone-like boats beam information back to the Victoria base in real time and are equipped with several sonar functions, so they can locate whales and alert nearby ships to slow down, map the ocean floor through hydrographic surveying so ships don’t hit bottom and determine vertical water currents to see where oil could be spreading in the event of a spill.
“It’s something that really drives us as a company and us as a team because we know that we’re in a cutting-edge area of technology that’s innovating in a number of ways,” Angus said in a previous interview with Black Press Media. “This has the ability to really make an impact in how we protect our ocean, how we understand them and how we operate sustainably on them.”
The investment round was co-led by Antares Ventures, a Singapore-based venture fund focused on sustainability challenges in Southeast Asia, and Spring Impact Capital, an impact venture fund, with participation from Katapult Ocean, Alacrity Canada, DTN Ventures, individual investors, and PacifiCan.
“We are excited to support Julie’s mission to revolutionize and decarbonize ocean monitoring through advanced technology,” noted Michael Gryseels, founder of Antares Ventures, in the release. “Open Ocean Robotics' solutions empower private and public organizations with safer more affordable, and sustainable coastal and open ocean oceanographic and maritime data collection, enhancing marine resource understanding and preservation for a sustainable future.”
To advance its work in Southeast Asian markets, Open Ocean Robotics is currently participating in the PIER71 Smart Port Challenge, an initiative of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and the National University of Singapore.
